12.  The applicants were born in 1959, 1949, 1951 and 1953 respectively and live in Reggio di Calabria.
13.  In 1992 the applicants inherited from Mr A. Scordino several plots of land in Reggio di Calabria, entered in the land register as folio 111, parcels 105, 107, 109 and 662. On 25 March 1970 Reggio di Calabria District Council had adopted a general development plan, which was approved by the Calabria Regional Council on 17 March 1975. The land in issue in the present application, an area of 1,786 sq. m designated as parcel 109, was made the subject of an expropriation permit under the general development plan with a view to the construction of housing on the land. The land was subsequently included in the zonal development plan approved by the Calabria Regional Council on 20 June 1979.
14.  In 1980 Reggio di Calabria District Council decided that a cooperative society, Edilizia Aquila, would carry out building work on the land in question. In a decision of 13 March 1981, the administrative authorities granted the cooperative permission to occupy the land.
15.  On 30 March 1982, pursuant to Law no. 385/1980, Reggio di Calabria District Council offered an advance on the compensation payable for the expropriation, the amount having been determined in accordance with Law no. 865/1971. The sum offered, 606,560 Italian lire (ITL), was calculated according to the rules in force for agricultural land, using a value of ITL 340 per square metre as a basis, with the proviso that the final amount of compensation would be determined once a law had been enacted laying down new compensation criteria for building land.
16.  The offer was refused by Mr A. Scordino.
17.  On 21 March 1983 the Regional Council issued an expropriation order in respect of the land.
18.  On 13 June 1983 the District Council made a second offer of an advance, this time amounting to ITL 785,000. The offer was not accepted.
19.  In judgment no. 223 of 15 July 1983, the Constitutional Court declared Law no. 385/1980 unconstitutional on the ground that it made the award of compensation subject to the enactment of a future law.
20.  As a result of that judgment, Law no. 2359/1865, which provided that compensation for expropriation should correspond to the market value of the land in question, came back into force.
21.  On 10 August 1984 Mr A. Scordino served formal notice on the District Council to determine the final amount of compensation in accordance with Law no. 2359/1865. On 16 November 1989 he learned that Reggio di Calabria District Council had assessed the final amount at ITL 88,414,940 (ITL 50,000 per square metre) in an order of 6 October 1989.
22.  On 25 May 1990, contesting the amount of compensation he had been awarded, Mr A. Scordino brought proceedings against the District Council and the cooperative in the Reggio di Calabria Court of Appeal.
23.  He argued that the amount determined by the District Council was ridiculously low in relation to the market value of the land and requested, among other things, to have the compensation calculated in accordance with Law no. 2359/1865. He also sought compensation for the period during which the land had been occupied before the expropriation order had been issued, and for the area of land (1,500 sq. m) that had become unusable as a result of the building work.
24.  Preparation of the case for hearing began on 7 January 1991.
25.  The cooperative gave notice of its intention to defend and raised an objection, arguing that it could not be considered a party to the proceedings.
26.  On 4 February 1991, as the District Council had still not given notice of its intention to defend, the Reggio di Calabria Court of Appeal declared it to be in default and ordered an expert assessment of the land. By an order of 13 February 1991, an expert was appointed and was given three months in which to submit his report.
27.  On 6 May 1991 the District Council gave notice of its intention to defend and raised an objection, arguing that it could not be considered a party to the proceedings. The expert agreed to his terms of reference and was sworn in.
28.  On 4 December 1991 the expert submitted a report.
29.  On 14 August 1992 Law no. 359 of 8 August 1992 (“Urgent measures aimed at stabilising public finances”) came into force. Section 5 bis of the Law laid down new criteria for calculating compensation for the expropriation of building land. The Law was expressly applicable to pending proceedings.
30.  Mr A. Scordino died on 30 November 1992. On 18 September 1993 the applicants declared their intention to continue the proceedings.
31. On 4 October 1993 the Reggio di Calabria Court of Appeal appointed another expert and instructed him to assess the compensation for the expropriation according to the new criteria laid down in section 5 bis of Law no. 359/1992.
32.  The expert submitted his report on 24 March 1994, concluding that the land’s market value on the date of the expropriation had been ITL 165,755 per square metre. In accordance with the new criteria laid down in section 5 bis of Law no. 359/1992, the compensation due was ITL 82,890 per square metre.
33.  At a hearing on 11 April 1994, the parties asked for time to submit comments on the expert’s report. Counsel for the applicants produced a separate expert opinion and observed that the expert appointed by the court had omitted to calculate the compensation for the 1,500 sq. m of land that was not covered by the expropriation order but had become unusable as a result of the building work.
34.  A hearing was held on 6 June 1994 at which observations were submitted in reply. The next hearing, scheduled for 4 July 1994, was adjourned by the court of its own motion until 3 October 1994 and then until 10 November 1994.
35.  By an order of 29 December 1994, the court ordered a further expert assessment and adjourned the proceedings until 6 March 1995. However, the hearing was subsequently adjourned on several occasions as the investigating judge was unavailable. At the applicants’ request, the investigating judge was replaced on 29 February 1996 and the parties made their submissions at a hearing on 20 March 1996.
36.  In a judgment of 17 July 1996, the Reggio di Calabria Court of Appeal held that the applicants were entitled to compensation calculated according to section 5 bis of Law no. 359/1992, both for the land that had been formally expropriated and for the land that had become unusable as a result of the building work. It also held that the compensation thus determined should not be subject to the further 40% statutory deduction applicable where the owner of the expropriated land had not signed an agreement for its transfer (cessione volontaria), seeing that in the applicants’ case the land had already been expropriated when the Law had come into force.
37.  In conclusion, the Court of Appeal ordered the District Council and the cooperative to pay the applicants:
(a)  ITL 148,041,540 (ITL 82,890 per square metre for 1,786 sq. m of land) in compensation for the expropriation;
(b)  ITL 91,774,043 (ITL 75,012.50 per square metre for 1,223.45 sq. m) in compensation for the part of the land that had become unusable and was to be regarded as having been de facto expropriated; and
(c)  compensation for the period during which the land had been occupied prior to its expropriation.
38.  Those amounts were to be index-linked and subject to interest until the date of settlement.
39.  On 20 December 1996 the cooperative appealed on points of law, arguing that it could not be considered a party to the proceedings. On 20 and 31 January 1997 respectively the applicants and the District Council likewise appealed.
On 30 June 1997 the cooperative applied for a stay of execution of the Court of Appeal’s judgment. That application was dismissed on 8 August 1997.
40.  In a judgment of 3 August 1998, deposited with the registry on 7 December 1998, the Court of Cassation allowed the cooperative’s appeal, acknowledging that it was not a party to the proceedings as it had not formally been a party to the expropriation, although it had benefited from it. It upheld the remainder of the Reggio di Calabria Court of Appeal’s judgment.
41.  In the meantime, on 18 June 1997, the amount awarded by the Court of Appeal had been deposited at the National Bank. On 30 September 1997 tax was deducted from it at a rate of 20% in accordance with Law no. 413/1991.
42.  On 18 April 2002 the applicants applied to the Reggio di Calabria Court of Appeal under Law no. 89 of 24 March 2001, known as the “Pinto Act”, complaining about the excessive length of the above-described proceedings.
The applicants asked the court to find that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and order the Italian State and the Ministry of Justice to compensate them for non-pecuniary damage, which they assessed at 50,000 euros (EUR), and the pecuniary damage that they considered they had sustained as a result of the application of Law no. 359/1992 to their case.
43.  In a decision of 1 July 2002, deposited with the registry on 27 July 2002, the Reggio di Calabria Court of Appeal found that the length of the proceedings had been excessive. It held as follows:
“... The proceedings began on 24 May 1990 and ended on 7 December 1998. They were conducted at two levels of jurisdiction and were not particularly complex.
It can be seen from the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights that three years is deemed to be an acceptable period for proceedings at first instance and two years at second instance.
The applicants declared their intention to continue the proceedings as the heirs of Mr A. Scordino, who died in 1992, when a reasonable time had not yet been exceeded.
Accordingly, the delays must be calculated only in respect of the subsequent period, and amount to three years and six months.
It is not the applicants who are responsible for the delay, but rather the malfunctioning of the judicial system.
The pecuniary damage alleged by the applicants has not been caused by the length of the proceedings and cannot therefore be compensated.
Having regard to the foregoing, the applicants are entitled only to compensation for the non-pecuniary damage they have sustained on account of the length of the proceedings, that is, the prolonged uncertainty regarding the outcome of the proceedings and the distress generally experienced as a result of that uncertainty.
In view of what was at stake, the amount to be awarded for non-pecuniary damage is EUR 2,450.”
44.  The Court of Appeal ordered the Ministry of Justice to pay the applicants a total sum of EUR 2,450 for non-pecuniary damage alone. With regard to the government, the Court of Appeal considered that they could not be considered as a party to the proceedings.
45.  Regarding the apportionment of the legal costs, the Court of Appeal ordered the Ministry of Justice to pay EUR 1,500 and the applicants to pay the remaining EUR 1,500.
46.  The applicants did not appeal to the Court of Cassation. The Court of Appeal’s decision became final on 26 October 2003.